State+Issues+and+Perspectives

John Wenrich EDEL635 – Group Project

Statement of Problem: Is the accountability system present in the reauthorization of IDEA, mainly the end of the year assessment called SOLs, the right way to measure progress for special education students? Are there other ways of measuring adequate yearly progress and growth other than standardized testing?

AREA Covered = STATE ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) was designed to evaluate the performance of special education students. The VAAP is available to students in grades 3 through 8 and students in grade 11 who are working on academic standards which have been reduced in complexity and depth due to a student’s significant cognitive disability. The content for the VAAP is derived from the Standards of Learning (SOL) and is referred to as the Aligned Standards of Learning (ASOL).

Classroom teachers use the VAAP to collect evidence of student mastery and submit the work to the school division which scores the material locally using trained scorers or scoring teams. Scorers use a VAAP scoring rubric to submit evidence using an online scoring system. The VAAP rubric, rubric addendum, and scoring rules are available in Section 7 of the Implementation Manual. Once all evidence has been submitted the online scoring system generates a final score and proficiency level for the student (much like the standard SOL online tests).

By using the VAAP and VGLA, local teachers (who know their students abilities) are able to present materials and score the students progress towards their goals. Most of the students using the VAAP and VGLA in place of SOL’s would not be able to complete the standard SOL testing which would negatively effect a schools score on their overall SOL results.

The VAAP and VGLA provide an alternate assessment of special education students while still requiring them to master certain goals and objectives during the school year – as all other students are required to do in today’s accountability driven educational system.

Additional resources and materials can be found on the Virginia DOE website and the following sections of the website: The Virginia Department of Education website VDOE – Special Education website Virginia Standards of Learning website Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) Virginia Grade Level Alternative Program (VGLA) Special Education Laws and Policies Superintendent’s Memo’s website Principals’ Memo’s website